


Fanfiction land

by severinas



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s05e08 Changing Channels, Gen, Multi, Pre-Series, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-09 21:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3265031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/severinas/pseuds/severinas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Where did you send him?" "Relax, he'll live… Maybe." My take on where Gabriel sent Cas in Changing Channels: Fanfiction land.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Destiel

Dean’s eyes turned from the spot where Cas had stood just seconds ago to glare at Gabriel

“Where did you send him?”

“Relax, he’ll live…”he said in a disinterested tone. “Maybe.”

  
****

One second Castiel had been there, in a crappy TV show, bound by Gabriel and trying to warn Sam and Dean, and the next second he was not there. Instead, he was here. Wherever here was.

It looked just like any other motel room where Dean and Sam might spend the night or the week or however long their hunt might take.

Castiel was used to these by now. Dean had called him more than once while they were in one of these, and besides, he had come often enough on his own to watch over Dean while he was sleeping.

The room he was in now looked just like any one of those rooms. Just that it didn’t.

It wasn’t quite the same, although he couldn’t really pinpoint what was different. Maybe it was the smell, or maybe the taste, or the breeze or the feeling it gave him, or maybe it was the absence of all that.

Yes, that had to be it, decided Cas. This was too simple, there weren’t enough details. It looked fake.

But how could a room that definitely was real to the touch feel so not-real? That was a mystery even for Castiel.

Suddenly the door burst open and Dean marched in. And even Dean didn’t seem real. It wasn’t so much that he looked fake, it just didn’t feel real, didn’t feel at all. He was used to feeling people, feeling their souls, their essence of being. But now?

Nothing.

It felt as if Dean was a puppet, only moving because the strings attached to his arms and legs were being moved by someone. It felt as if Dean was out of plastic or cloth or another fabric but not flesh and bones. It felt as if Dean was a fragment of his imagination, there but not really there. It felt as if Dean was a fleeting image in the wind only created for Cas’ mind to see. It felt as if Dean wasn’t real.

But he was.

Castiel could see him.

The bed was jolted and Cas looked up only to see Dean looking at him with wide eyes.

“C’s” he slurred, eyes never leaving Castiel but not really fixed on his face either.

Castiel turned around to see what Dean was looking at but felt that he couldn’t really move. Well, he could move, but he couldn’t move his body. Well, it felt as if he was moving his body but in fact he wasn’t. He could still see himself sitting on the bed as he had been seconds before he had moved.

And that was when he saw what Dean was staring at. His wings.

But Dean wasn’t supposed to see them. They couldn’t be seen by any human unless the angel wanted them to, and even then they weren’t supposed to be visible in their real form but just as shadows. Only in heaven could anyone, human or angel, see the wings for what they really were. But there was Dean staring at Cas’ wings.

Dean stood up, slowly, as if dreading that what he was seeing would disappear if he just moved too suddenly. Castiel kind of hoped that it would, because this could not be real. This could not be happening right now. This was against everything that he had learned, this was physically not possible.

Still, it was happening.

“Am I supposed to see them?” asked Dean, nearly as disbelieving as Castiel himself.

“No” he felt himself answer, even though he hadn’t wanted to say that. What was wrong with him?

“Then why…?” continued Dean to ask but Cas felt himself interrupt him.

“I don’t know”

Well, at least that was true. But Cas had not given his body the order to say that. To say any of that, for that matter. He wasn’t in control of his own body.

Castiel was thrown out of his own thoughts as Dean sat back down on the bed, his eyes never leaving Cas, or rather his wings.  
Suddenly, Cas felt the urge to scoot closer to Dean. No, he didn’t feel it, his body did. But his body never felt anything. His body never felt anything without his mind feeling it too. But now it did.

And again, it moved without his say so.

It moved closer to Dean, so that Dean was only an arm length away from him. If he would extend his arm he would be able to touch Dean. Touch him and maybe guide his hand towards his wings, so that he could touch them, so that Castiel could feel Dean’s hand on his wings…

Why was he thinking that?

But without any way to prevent it, his hand moved up and did exactly what his mind had demanded only seconds ago. It extended, took Dean’s hand and guided it towards Castiel’s wings before it was hovering only inches away from them.

“Cas” Dean spoke for the first time in a while and Castiel nearly jumped off the bed at the surprise, only that he felt that he couldn’t move anymore.

“It’s okay.”

Couldn’t move except for whatever his body seemed to want to do, even though he didn’t want to. Didn’t consciously want to.  
Just as he now didn’t want his wings to get closer and closer to Dean’s outstretched fingers, although he really wanted them to touch Dean’s finger.

And then they did.

The feeling made not only Cas’ body shudder but his whole being marvelled at that touch. He forced his eyes open again, not remembering when he had closed them. He met Dean’s eyes and without thinking twice he said:

“You may”

Dean’s eyes widened and if Cas had had any control over his body, his would have too. Why had he said that? But he didn’t actually disagree with his body.

“It’s pleasant for me” he felt his lips usher and he did agree with his body. He longed for that touch, the few seconds hadn’t been enough.

“You like it” stated Dean slightly in awe.

Cas felt himself smile.

“Yes, Dean, I like it. That’s what pleasant usually means.” He felt that he agreed more and more with what his body did and said. “It’s quite agreeable. No one has caressed them in a long time.” No one had done that in a very, very long time. In fact, he didn’t remember anyone doing that to him since he was barely a fledgling.

As Dean carded his fingers through Castiel’s wings all he could do was try to supress any reaction, even though he wasn’t sure that a reaction would actually show on his body.

“Please don’t stop” he felt himself say, and even though he would have never said those words out aloud he couldn’t help but agree with his disobedient body. “Don’t ever stop.”

And then everything went black.


	2. J2

As Cas regained his vision, he looked around him confused. Where did the room go? Where did everything go?

He was in some sort of a forest, loads and loads of trees and bushes around him. And Dean who had been beside him mere seconds ago, was gone too.

Instead, Balthazar stood beside him.

“You should be dead” Cas voiced the first thing that came to his mind.

Balthazar turned around.

“Hey” Balthazar said indignantly, “what did I do now?!”

Cas furrowed his brow. There was something wrong with Balthazar. Something in the way his face looked, something in the way he spoke and moved.

“Who are you?” he asked while drawing his blade.

“Wow, where you always keep those things hidden… We’re not on till another few minutes, you do realise that, right?”

But Cas didn’t move. He didn’t know who that creature in front of him was, but he knew for sure that it wasn’t Balthazar.

“Who are you?” he repeated, raising his blade in warning.

“You do realise that that’s not the line, do you?”

Cas didn’t move. He didn’t want to indulge in his opponents talk, he just wanted to get this over with and find Dean.

“Where the hell is Dean?” he voiced his concerns.

“Okay, now wait a second, Misha. What are you doing?” Balthazar asked puzzled.

Cas was equally puzzled.

“Who is Misha?” he asked.

Suddenly, Balthazar started to grin and he relaxed.

“Now I get it” he said and his grin widened into a full smile. “You’re playing ‘The French Mistake’, aren’t you? Clever idea, by the way, but next time fill me in and we can prank Jared and Jensen together.”

“Who is Jared and Jensen?” asked Misha, his brow furrowing even further.

“O gosh I love it when you do that head tilt thing, it looks so cute!” Balthazar exclaimed.

Cas straightened his head again. He’d never realised he did anything with it, yet alone that that would be cute.

Then he remembered where he was and who he was talking to, and he raised his arm with the blade again.

“Where is Dean?” he asked more forcefully this time. “And what have you done with him?”

Balthazar was about to answer, his mouth already open, when a voice from behind Cas shouted:

“Misha, Sebastian, you’re on in five!”

Balthazar closed his mouth and grinned at Cas.

“Show time” he said and started walking past Cas towards the voice they’d heard.

Cas turned with him but didn’t follow just yet. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Balthazar, or the man who pretended to be Balthazar.

He couldn’t see any sense for someone to pretend to be Balthazar if it weren’t to attack him, which the man had not done.

Ca was confused. He didn’t understand anything.

„Misha, come on!“ shouted Balthazar.

Cas was still staring at him and Balthazar stared directly back at him. Only then did Cas realise that Balthazar was addressing him.

“Why are you calling me Misha?” he asked and straightened his head again annoyed. Why did he even do that?

“Okay, Misha, will you come if I call you Cas? Is that what you want from me?” He sounded exasperated, but Misha had never understood Balthazar’s moods. They came and went too fast for him to catch up to them. “Okay then. Come on, Cas, we have to go.”

Castiel found himself walking towards Balthazar, even though he still didn’t trust him. And he didn’t understand anything that was going on.

Balthazar didn’t seem to be a danger to him, so he decided to go with it for now. He followed him to a clearing, which was occupied by men and small cars and carts and cameras and all sorts of other technically looking objects Cas didn’t recognise.

He followed Balthazar, who seemed to be comfortable in this chaos, looking from one side to the other. What was going on here?

Then, Balthazar stopped. Misha stopped too, while everyone around them seemed to have something very urgent to do or go to, because the people were all scurrying and fidgeting around and on him. Balthazar was typing on some little device, but he didn’t seem unsettled. 

Still, Cas didn’t dare to move. He still wasn’t sure if he shouldn’t be running away from here, if this all was a set up to trick him into doing… something.

Nothing made sense.

“Jensen, Jared, finally. What took you so long?” the same voice from before shouted.

Misha looked around and sighed in relief.

“Dean! Sam! There you are!“ he greeted them while walking towards them. “Where did you go?”

Dean smiled a definitely not-Dean smile.

„Don’t bother, Misha, Seb already warned me. You have to plan your pranks better next time.”

Cas stopped dead in his tracks. They were wrong too. Dean and Sam, they weren’t Dean or Sam either. What was wrong with the world? What was happening?

Dean and Sam, or whoever they were, positioned themselves besides Cas and Balthazar, who wasn’t Balthazar either, and talked about something that Castiel couldn’t concentrate on.

There was more scurrying and someone did something to his face and then someone yelled “Action” and then Sam and Dean and Balthazar where themselves again.

They talked and moved like them and even though Cas knew that he should be relieved he was only more confused. He did not understand what was happening, and that frightened him.

And suddenly everyone was staring at him. Cas looked around confused, but he couldn’t make out what had led them to stare at him.

Then Balthazar gave him a push, but it wasn’t an aggressive or offensive push so Cas barely contained himself to draw his blade.

“Misha, that was your line” Balthazar said, and as Cas only stared at him in confusion he continued: “Do you know on which page we are?”

Cas still didn’t answer. He was lost, he had no idea what was going on.

“Hello?” Dean, who again was not Dean anymore, asked while waving a hand in front of his face. “Anybody home?”

Cas knew by the tone of voice that it was meant to be a joke, but he didn’t get the humour behind it and he didn’t even try. He had more pressing matters at hand.

“Where am I?” he decided to venture out. He was past trying to pretend that he wasn’t frightened and insecure. Even though this was the worst course of action ever, he had no idea what to do else. “Who are you? What do you want from me?”

Everyone in that little clearing in the forest stared at him. It seemed that no one moved for a few seconds, and then everyone burst out laughing. Everyone but Dean.

For a second, Cas felt betrayed. What had he done that was so amusing to everyone? What where they doing?

Then his eyes met Dean’s, and for some reason it helped. He felt safer, even though nothing else had changed.

Everyone was still laughing, but Dean was not laughing. And then Dean was beside him and Cas followed him without even thinking, Dean felt safe, Dean made him feel safe.

And before Cas could realise where they were going they were in the forest again. Alone.

Dean stopped and turned Cas to face him.

“Misha, you all right?”

And with that sentence every sense of safety vanished from Cas.

Dean was no different than any one of the others, he was just like them. He was probably here to trick him or foul him into doing something or… Cas didn’t know why this was happening, he only knew he wanted to get out.

His emotions had to have showed in his eyes, because Dean (he was not Dean, not Dean, definitely not Dean) furrowed his brow in an expression that could have been concern but could have been anything else too.

“Misha?”

Cas turned away to hide the hurt that probably showed on his face. He couldn’t see Dean’s (not Dean’s) face, but he didn’t want to either. He didn’t want to see what he was thinking, because not-Dean wasn’t talking to him, he was talking to Misha, whoever that was. He was talking to someone else and ignoring Cas. Ignoring him when he needed Dean the most. Ignoring him when…

“Cas?”

Cas froze. He didnt dare to let allow the feeling of exhilaration that was spreading through him. For all he knew, Dean was just playing with him, pulling another one of his pranks, tricking him.

“Cas?”

Finally, Cas turned around.

Dean seemed earnest enough. His mouth was slightly ajar in what Cas thought was an astonished expression. The first sprout of hope started to grow and Cas took a tentative step towards Dean.

But then Dean’s face changed again, and it was suspicion that showed itself clearly on his expression. Cas stopped, his hope fading away.

“Misha, are you pulling another one of your pranks? I have to admit, this one is really good.” Dean didn’t seem too sure about what he was saying, so Cas forced himself not to give up.

“No” he simply said.

Dean froze.

“No?” he asked.

“No” Cas answered, trying to convey what he was feeling with his eyes.

Dean stared into them for a long time. Castiel didn’t dare to move and hoped with all his power.

“Cas”.

This time it hadn’t been a question.

Castiel’s face lit up.

„Dean“ he said.

And then everything went black again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for the kudos and bookmarks, I hope you liked this chapter as well!   
> See you soon


	3. Wincest

The next time the blackness vanished, Cas was already prepared for that. New surroundings, no one around.

He sighed.

He was doing that quite often in the last few hours. Was it really just a few hours? It felt longer to Cas.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Cas looked around.

This time it was a house. Or apartment. At least it was a living room.

It looked, appropriately to its name, lived in. There were stacks of books all over the couch table and magazines and a few cushions on the sofa. All in all, that living room looked appealing to Cas, way more comfortable than what Dean and Sam had built in the bunker.

Deciding that it was time for himself to do something about his situation, Dean went around roaming through the apartment.

Sam and Dean needed to have something useful somewhere in there.

How he knew that it was Dean’s and Sam’s apartment he ignored for the moment.

But as he was about to open one of the cupboards that looked quite promising to contain useful stuff, whatever that could be, the door of the apartment opened.

Cas’ head shot up and he was frantically looking for something to defend himself with, as he really looked at who had come through the door.

“Sam? You home?” the man asked.

Cas furrowed his brow.

“No, it’s me, Cas. Don’t you recognise me, Dean?”

Then Dean actually looked at the man standing in his living room and took a double take, putting the bags he’d had in his hands on the ground.

“Cas?”

Cas grinned.

“Yes” he said. For once, everything seemed to go in the right direction. Dean recognised him, Dean actually knew him. Maybe he would even get to working towards a solution this time around. Maybe…

“What are you doing here?”

Cas’ smile vanished again.

„Why wouldn’t I be here?“ he asked.

“Well…” Dean said, fidgeting about. „This is mine and Sam’s apartment... You don’t usually come here anymore.”

Cas frowned.

„Why?“ he asked.

„Well, you know, since you found out...“ Dean said.

Cas still didn’t get it.

“Since I found out what?”

Dean paused in his fidgeting and stared at Cas.

“Wait, you don’t remember?” he asked.

“Remember what?”

Dean grinned.

„Even though that’s weird, this is a chance to get it right this time, you know?“ He winked at Cas. “Maybe we can change the past” he said in a mysterious voice that did more to confuse Cas than everything he’d said before.

“What?”

“Just ignore me” Dean said and continued walking towards the couch. He passed Cas, who was standing a few steps in front of the couch, and slumped himself on it. He patted beside him. “Come on, sit.”

Cas sat down, shooting occasional glances at Dean. He was weary, sitting on the edge of the couch seat. He didn’t have time to talk with Dean right now, he had to figure out what was happening with him and how to get out of this mess. But he also knew Dean, and he knew that if Dean wanted to talk about something, then there was no way around it.

So, he decided to just stick it out and wait until Dean had gotten off his chest what he had on his mind.

“So how are you?” asked Dean finally, when the silence was nearly becoming too heavy for Cas to bear.

“Fine” answered Cas the Winchesters usual phrase. He was never sure if they actually meant it or if they were trying to communicate that they were not fine. Only Sam and Dean seemed to know the code to that secret language.

Dean laughed, and for a second Cas thought that Dean had read his mind. But then he patted him on the leg, and the moment was gone.

“Good good” he said. “How is work going?”

Cas stared at him. As Dean didn’t continue, he raised one eyebrow and glanced at Dean in confusion.

“Work?”

„Yes, work. You know, where you spend your days hours giving service in return for money?” Dean specified.

“I don’t work” Cas stated. „And you don‘t either. We kill monsters.”

Dean laughed, but as he saw that Cas was not laughing with him, he went serious again.

“Not for a very long time, Cas.” Then he knit his brows together. “Don’t you remember any of that, Cas? What’s wrong with you? You alright?”

“I’m fine” Cas repeated. „Why don’t we hunt monsters anymore?“

Cas didn’t understand anything anymore. Dean and Sam’s lives basically consisted of hunting monsters. The family business, everyone knew that. What could have happened to change that?

“Why?” he simply asked, knowing instinctively that Dean would know what he meant, know what he was thinking. “Why would you stop hunting monsters?”

Dean didn’t answer right away. Instead, he stared at the TV even though it wasn’t even on. Then, as if he couldn’t take it anymore to sit still, he jumped up and started pacing in the little room. From the door to the couch, back to the door and back to the couch. Cas followed him with his eyes but didn’t dare to interrupt him.

“Well, you know about Lisa, right?” Cas nodded, not understanding where Dean was going. “Well, it’s something like that, just different. Kinda a lot different.”

Cas faltered. If Dean was in love, then that would explain why he’d given up something so important in his life. But if it wasn’t Lisa, then who…?

Suddenly, the door opened.

„Honey, I‘m home!“ said a voice and before either Cas or Dean could react Sam had entered the living room and smacked a kiss on Dean’s lips.

Then his eyes went over to the couch and the visitor that sat petrified on it.

“Cas?!”

Dean shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, I think there is no way to get this right” he sighed.

This time, Cas didn’t know if the blackness wasn’t him fainting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I am so so SO sorry this took so long... I completly forgot that I was supposed to be updating this! I apologise for anyone who's still out there, and thanks for sticking around.   
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I promise to update sooner this time.


	4. AU

When Cas was able to see again, he was somewhere else. Again. He looked around himself and there was nobody there. Again. He was in some sort of office building, although it looked too chaotic to actually be something along those lines.

Cas sighed, exasperated with this game. Who was behind all of this? And why where they doing this to him? What did they want from him?

Right then and right now Cas decided that he wouldn’t make it as easy for them has he’d been doing. He wasn’t a defenceless human and he wasn’t going to let whomever do whatever he wanted with him. He would so something, anything, that would at least tell him who was behind all of this. And then he could think of something to get him out of there, wherever “there” was.

Turning around, he started to walk towards one of what appeared to be a line of offices, when someone turned around the corner. Cas stopped dead in his tracks.

“Sam?” he asked.

The man, Sam, stopped too, but only eyed Cas inquisitively.

“Yeah?” he said, even though it sounded more like a question. “And who are you? Why do you know my name?”

Cas’ shoulders slumped down and the glimpse of hope, or had it been relief, vanished again.

“It’s me, Cas” he still tried his luck.

“Who?” Sam asked, obviously not recognising Cas.

„I am Castiel“ Cas explained. “And who are you, if you are not Sam Winchester?”

Sam frowned.

“You just said it yourself, I am Sam Winchester” he stated as if it were an offense not to be Sam Winchester. “Samuel Winchester.”

Finally, Cas gave up understanding anything. Balthazar hadn’t known him, Dean hadn’t known him, then he had recognised him and now Sam didn’t recognise him either. What was wrong with everybody? Or was there something wrong with him?

But before he could decide on anything, another man came around the corner. One man, being escorted by two others.

“Dean!”

The man in the middle, who was being held by the other two and had his wrists cuffed, lifted his head and stared at Cas.

“Yeah, sweetie, that’s me. Got a problem with that?”

Cas reeled back in surprise. Dean would never talk to him like that.

Dean, or the man who looked like Dean, noticed Cas’ surprise.

“Not what you expected, he?” he said, winking at him. “Only looking, no touching.”

Cas frowned, not understanding what Dean (the man who looked like Dean) meant. That got a guffawing laugh out of the man, which made Cas reel back even more.

The two men, which Cas now identified as policemen, pulled Dean to continue walking, and while they walked past Cas and Sam, the man who looked like Dean continuously stared at Cas hungrily.

Cas shivered.

“I’ll be there in a minute” Sam said to the two policemen, and only then did Cas remember that there was someone standing beside him.

Sam was eying him curiously, and Cas shifted from one foot to the other, not comfortable under the other man’s stare.

“So you know him” Sam stated, although Cas wasn’t sure if he hadn’t meant it as a question.

“Yes” he answered without thinking, then shook his head. “I mean, no. I thought so, but no. I do not know this man.“

Sam’s gaze was still on him, and Cas shifted nervously again.

“You sure?” Sam asked again.

Suddenly, Cas realised that Sam had to be a policemen too, if he was giving orders around here. He remembered how Sam and Dean always told him not to trust the police, or at least to lie to them as much as he could.

“Yes” he said, trying to get more confidence in his voice. “I do not know this man.”

Sam seemed to accept that for the moment, because he started walking the way the men had taken Dean. Still, his gaze lingered a moment longer on Cas, but then he turned away and left.

Cas sighed in relief, even though he didn’t know exactly why he had lied to Sam, who was probably not Sam either. He turned his head, looking for an exit. As he didn’t find one, he just started walking in the opposite direction than Sam had.

He found the exit eventually and once on the streets he directed his steps towards the nearest bar.

20 minutes later he still sat there, coffee mug in front of him. He was trying to decide what to do, but his thoughts kept going back to Sam who wasn’t Sam and Dean who wasn’t Dean. Who were they?

And why had the Dean in the woods recognised him, even though he had definitely not been Dean?

“Hey” said a voice directly in front of him, and Cas’ head shot up. “Cas, was it?”

Dean was sitting at Cas’ table on the chair in front of him, his face mere inches from Cas.

Cas nodded absently, and Dean smiled.

“Sorry, didn’t meant to scare you” he said, and he sounded more like the Dean Cas new.

Still, it wasn’t the same man, Cas reminded himself. This Dean did not know him.

The not-Dean made a gesture with his hand towards one of the waitresses here and she came back with a mug of coffee for Dean.

“Do you come here often?” Cas asked because he didn’t know anything else to say.

Dean smiled, but it wasn’t the open smile that Cas enjoyed so much seeing on Dean’s face. It was a sarcastic smile, a smile meant to hide what the stranger in front of him was feeling.

“Yeah, I do. You could say that I’m in the neighbourhood often” he said, winking again at Cas. That only added to Cas’ confusion, and as Dean saw that he clarified: “The cops take me in every time something happens 50 miles from me. They think I have to do something with basically any criminal act in this area. And to be honest, most of the times they are right.”

Dean was smiling again, but Cas was not so sure that that smile was true to what Dean was feeling. He decided to stay silent, not knowing anyway what he could have said.

“So” Dean said while letting his hands fall on the table, startling Cas from his thoughts. “How did you know my name?”

Cas had to think back to know what Dean was referring to. But then he realised: Dean didn’t know him, so in Dean’s logic Cas couldn’t know him either. Cas tried to think of a way to explain to Dean what had happened that would make at least the faintest bit of sense to the other man.

He didn’t come up with anything.

“I know you” he simply stated. “I realise that this makes no sense to you, but I am telling the truth” he told Dean.

He didn’t expect Dean to believe him, but for some reason the other man just accepted what Cas had said. If he believed him was another matter, but Cas couldn’t read anything from his face.

“Shouldn’t you be in jail?” Cas asked to divert Dean’s attention from the topic.

For a few moments, Dean just stared at him and Cas was pondering how he could have offended the other man, but then Dean burst out laughing.

Cas only stared at him, not understanding anything. Still, he waited patiently until Dean recovered from his laughing attack and calmed down.

“What is so funny?” he finally asked.

Dean just continued to grin at him and stated:

“Just because the police took me in doesn’t mean I actually did it.” A glint of mischief appeared on his face. “Even though this time I actually did.”

Cas couldn’t help himself but grin at the proud expression on Dean’s face. The he turned serious again.

“I could tell the police” he said, more pensively as offensively.

Dean’s grin didn’t falter even for a second.

“Something tells me that you won’t do that” he said, very sure about himself.

Cas thought about going to the police just to wipe that smug and self-sure smile off Dean’s face, but then he remembered that he had more important matters to deal with.

“I have to go now” he said bluntly to Dean and laid some money on the table beside his coffee mug. He hoped it would be enough, he had never taken the time or interest to understand the humans way of paying for services.

Cas stood up but stopped walking as he saw Dean raising from his chair too. Then he dismissed it; Dean probably had to go somewhere too.

But as Dean was still trailing behind him as he left the bar, he finally turned around and faced him.

“Why are you following me?” he asked.

Dean shrugged his shoulders.

“To be honest, I don’t know exactly. But you seem kinda nice and I have the feeling that I can help you by sticking around.” Then for a second his façade slipped and Cas could see the insecurity flash in his eyes. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

As the blackness took over Cas’ mind, he wasn’t even surprised anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as promised, the next chapter sooner. I hope you liked it!  
> See you soon, if you'd like


	5. Pre-Series

Castiel was thrown to the ground as someone ran directly into him.

“Ouch” he protested from the ground.

“Sorry sir” someone shouted from above him.

It was a child’s voice and surprised Cas sat up and looked around him. He was in a suburb area. A lot of houses, all looking roughly the same, lined up on an endless road. Little gardens in front of them, with neatly cut lawns and bushes.

What was he doing here?

Until now, everywhere he’d gone he’d met Dean and Sam, or people who looked like them. But this time? Dean or Sam would never live in such a neighbourhood. Not only because they couldn’t afford it – which Cas wasn’t even that sure that they couldn’t – but also because they didn’t fit in such an environment and wouldn’t want to try to fit in either way.

Still, something had to be connected to them here, otherwise Cas wouldn’t have appeared here.

Or he was interpreting this whole thing completely wrong. Who knew.

“Are you okay?”

Cas was startled out of this thoughts by that voice. It was the child’s voice again, and this time Cas fixed his eyes on the little boy kneeling on the ground in front of him. His eyes were on Cas, watching him carefully but also a bit worriedly.

Castiel smiled, trying to reassure the kid.

“I am okay” he said in his best I-am-not-here-to-scare-you-I-am-your-friend voice.

The kid didn’t seem completely convinced, but he seemed relieved that Cas wasn’t going to die because of him. He sighed and leaned back a bit. That gave Cas a free view on a scooter lying on the ground a few feet away. The boy had probably run into him on that thing.

Cas raise himself off the ground and so did the boy. As he was standing, Cas saw the huge hole in the boy’s trousers. The boy followed Cas’ gaze and gasped in shock.

“My brother is going to kill me” he said.

For a moment Cas was shocked too, not because of the hole in the boy’s trousers but because of the thought that a someone would kill his brother because of a hole in a pair of trousers. Then he realised that there had been no fear in the boys voice and realised that it was probably an exaggeration.

“Sammy!”

Sam. The boy’s name was Sam. Could it be that…? But that didn’t make any sense.

Both Cas and the boy turned around at the sound of the voice. It had carried a certain degree of nervousness and protectiveness, so Cas assumed that it was the older brother of the little boy – apparently called Sammy – who was running towards them.

Before Cas could do anything, the boy had scooped up his brother and taken a few steps away from Cas. The older boy turned around in order to protect the younger one with his body between him and Cas.

“Dean” the younger one said muffled into his brothers shoulder.

Cas gasped in surprise, but neither one of the brothers heard him. Sam and Dean. Dean and Sam. That was too much of a coincidence. But… They were young! So young even compared to a human life span. They were children. Cas shook his head. That couldn’t be the Sam and Dean he knew. He hadn’t travelled in time… Or had he?

“I’m here” the other one said, drawing Cas’ attention back to the brothers. “Are you hurt?”

Sam shook his head. “No” he said, but his voice sounded so insecure that Dean detached his brothers arms from around him and put him on his own feet again.

Sam hung his head, staring intently at his brothers feet and not daring to make a sound. Dean’s gaze swept over him, from top to bottom. As he saw the hole in the boys trousers, he just sighed and crouched in front of the younger one, and with one hand under the boys chin he forced him to look him in the eye.

Cas was tense, prepared to interfere if the older boy would shout or do something against the younger one.

But Dean just said:

“Are you hurt, Sammy?”

The younger one shook his head slowly, then paused and corrected:

“I don’t know.”

Carefully and with a caution that Cas would have never attributed to this rough looking boy, Dean peeled Sam’s jeans from his leg and pulled it up until it was above the knee.

Dean pulled in a gulp of air as he saw the bloody knee of his brother, and Cas narrowed his eyes in sympathy.

Sam had his eyes shut tightly and didn’t dare to look. (As everyone knows, before you know for sure that you have a reason to hurt, it doesn’t hurt as bad.)

Dean eased the jeans leg back down and patted Sam on the shoulder reassuringly, then he turned towards Cas.

Cas was surprised at the amount of anger in the boy’s face, who couldn’t be older than 8. He tried to keep his face even to not give the boy any reason to mistrust him. He didn’t stand up either, because that would have put him above the boy.

Cas knew all about power plays, he had grown up around them, and had been tossed around one time too much. He understood the boy.

He raised his hands in a sign of surrender and innocence. Still, that didn’t seem to help a lot. Dean seemed to be overly cautious of strange men.

“What did you do to my brother?”

Only then did Sam turn around to Cas again. His eyes were wide open, staring from Dean to Cas and back.

“I didn’t do anything” Cas said. “I just…”

“Don’t lie to me” Dean interrupted him, and Cas was impressed at the ferocity of the young boy. “Tell me, what did you do to my brother?”

“He didn’t do anything!” Sam defended Cas.

Cas was grateful that the young boy had stepped up to defend him, but he saw that it didn’t make a lot of a difference to Dean either. There was a man and his little brother was hurt. There was no other way to interpret what had happened for Dean.

“If you’ve touched him, I swear, you’ll regret it for the rest of your short-lived life!”

Cas could hear and see that the threat from Dean was real. He wasn’t joking with his promises. If Cas had been human, he was sure that he would have been scared right now. And if Dean had been a few years older, he would have been scared even though he wasn’t human.

But Cas was careful to show any of his thoughts on his face, because he knew that worse than fear or anger the feeling of not being taken seriously would worsen the situation.

So instead he kept his face neutral and tried to look as innocent and non-threatening as possible.

Of course, Dean didn’t buy it. Cas was about to back away because he really didn’t want to have to fight Dean, as Dean’s little brother took a step forward.

Sam stepped in front of Dean and thus blocked his brothers way to Cas.

Dean stared down at him, confused. He didn’t want to push his brother out of the way, so instead he tried to stare him down. But Sam had learned from the best, and he didn’t blink at his brother’s glare.

“What is it, Sammy?” Dean finally asked, loosening the tension in his shoulders.

Sam stared right at him and simply repeated.

“He didn’t do anything.”

This time it did make a difference. Dean’s face softened somewhat, although after a glance towards Cas he tried to hide that what had been a moment of weakness from him.

He squatted down in front of his brother and looked him in the eye. After a long time he asked:

“You sure, Sammy?”

Sam nodded so fast that his whole body shook together with his head.

“Yeah I’m sure!”

“Then what happened, Sam?”

Sam bowed his head. Dean waited patiently for Sam to continue, although Cas could see that that patience was only a facade, because he kept shooting Cas murderous glances.

Finally, Sam raised his head again, even though he only stared at Dean’s chin.

“I ran into him” he whispered, barely audible for Cas. Then he added even softer: “Sorry again…”

Dean stared for a moment, but then he burst out laughing. Sam’s head shot up and he stared at Dean in confusion. But Dean didn’t notice because he was still shaking from laughter, his eyes closed and hands clutching at his stomach.

As he finally stopped, he looked towards Cas still with amusement shining in his eyes and said:

“Well, I’m not gonna lie and say that I’m sorry, but heck, I’d have loved to see this.”

Cas smiled too then turned towards Sam who still didn’t dare to look at him.

“No problem” he said to both of them. “In the end, it was me who stepped into your way.”

Dean glanced at Cas out of the corner of his eye, but then he decided that the strange man was probably only trying to make Sam feel better about the accident. Sam had that effect on people.

Then he paused and realised that he himself was the best example for that. He huffed out a laugh then turned his attention back to Sam again.

“Come on, let’s get you home and cleaned up” he said. “And we’ll have to stich up that trouser before dad comes home.”

Sam hunched his shoulders at the thought of what his dad would say to his torn jeans, but then Dean put one arm over his shoulder and he relaxed again.

His big brother was there and he would always be there. He could count on him to protect him, whenever and wherever. He pulled Dean closer and hid his face in his jacket.

Then he remembered the strange man and he turned around to look at him.

But the street was empty. Where the strange man had been just a few seconds ago there was nothing now. A lonely leaf flew through the air, lifted by an invisible wind. But the man was gone.

Even though Sam would never know, the last thoughts of that strange man had been: “Dean will always protect his little brother.” And then “Oh no, not again…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter and had a wonderful weekend! See you next time, if you want


	6. End Verse

The ringing sounds of bullets being fired was the first thing that Cas noticed again. He let himself fall onto his knees to the ground and clasped his hands over his head. Then he remembered that he wasn’t human, he was an angel. A bullet couldn’t hurt him.

Embarassed he stood up again and looked around himself to see if anyone had seen him. Luckily that wasn’t the case.

He had spent too much time around the Winchesters, he thought. He was starting to copy their manners, good and bad.

Cas tilted his head as another round of bullets were fired, trying to find out from which direction they came.

He started walking, directing his steps towards what appeared to be an abandoned loft. He wasn’t sure if the noise was coming from there, but he had to start looking somewhere.

But he didn’t come far. Just as he was about to cross the street, he heard more noise coming from around the corner. Cas couldn’t decide if he should hide or confront whomever was coming around the corner, but that decision was taken from him because before he could do any of those things a group of people came running around the corner.

There was no point in hiding now, because they had clearly seen him. One man out of the group changed his course and started running more in Cas’ direction. Cas took a step back, but he had nowhere to go. Behind him there was only a wall, and even if he could run he wouldn’t be fast enough.

Besides, the man didn’t seem to be  a threat to him, on the contrary. He was moindicating something to him, but Cas didn’t understand it. He was shouting too, but he was too far away for Cas to hear what he said.

As he came closer though, he understood what the man was trying to tell him to do. And then he could hear him too:

“Run!”

Cas tilted his head. Why should he run? There was no danger anywhere in sight. He stood still, not moving and waited until the man was closer.

But as he came closer, he noticed something. The man ran just like Dean. His hair looked similar too. And his face…

Cas sighed.

He should have known it.

At that moment, Dean was already beside him and without stopping for a second he grabbed Cas’ arm and continued running.

Cas had no other option than to run beside Dean if he didn’t want to faceplant onto the floor.

Neither of the men said anything, at the speed they were running that would have been difficult.

Dean pulled Cas towards the middle of the street again, where they joined the rest of the group and continued running from something that Cas couldn’t see.

They didn’t stop until they were a good dozen yards from where they had started. Panting,

everyone stood bent over with their hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath.

Cas looked around, but other than Dean there was no face that was familiar to him. Where was Sam?

“What are you doing here?”

Cas turned back around to face Dean and furrowed his eyebrows.

“I don’t know” he replied honestly.

Dean huffed out  a laugh.

“I told you to stay at the camp, Cas.” Then he squinted his eyes thoughtfully. “And besides, how did you get here before us?”

Before Cas could answer, another guy came up to Dean and told him:

“We’d better head back, I guess. Don’t want those croatons coming after us again.”

Dean nodded and turned around, away from Cas.

“Okay guys” he said in a loud voice so that everyone could hear him, “let’s head back. We’ve got our toilet paper.” Then he trudged off in what appeared to be to Cas a random direction.

Cas frowned, but followed him in a distance. He didn’t want to answer Dean’s questions right now. He wouldn’t believe him if he told him the truth, and he had to prepare a lie before he could convince Dean of that lie.

After walking for a few minutes, in which neither Dean nor Cas had made any attempt to continue their conversation, they got to a group of cars. Dean and his companions got in, and Cas joined them, making sure that he wasn’t in the same car as Dean.

Their car was one of the last to finally arrive at a farm building, and as Cas finally was able to get out of the car he froze on his steps.

There was someone talking to Dean. Even though the other guy had his back turned to Cas, there was no mistaking who he was.

Dean had noticed Cas staring and was looking over the other guys shoulder. The other guy noticed and turned around, just to stare at Cas in disbelief.

Then a mischievous smile spread on his face.

“This is gonna be so much fun” said the second Castiel staring at Cas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long again for me to post anohter chapter. But here it is! I hope you enjoyed it, thanks to everyone for reading!


	7. Megstiel

“Clarence!”

Cas’ eyes flew open and he looked frantically around. Who had been calling him?

Then he stopped and frowned. Why did he feel addressed by Clarence? His name wasn’t Clarence.

“Claareence” the voice called again.

Cas didn’t know where it was coming from, but it was clearly a women’s voice.

“Claaaaareeeeence.” And it was coming closer.

Cas turned around and for the first time took his surroundings in. He was in a living room, again. This didn’t look very promising, Cas thought.

“Casy boy” the voice cooed and a shiver ran down Cas’ spine. The voice was familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite place it.

As the women turned the corner, he would have drawn his blade if he could have. For some reason, he couldn’t, and that made him even more weary.

“Meg”

“Yes my sweet boy, it’s me” said Meg while still walking directly at Cas, a huge grin spread on her face.

Cas took a step back, but that didn’t seem to bother Meg at all. Or maybe she hadn’t noticed. But then again, there was nothing Meg didn’t notice.

A mere few feet away from Cas, Meg stopped and raised her hand. It came closer and closer, and Cas was too petrified to do anything. He stood there, not moving a single muscle. If she’d wanted to, Meg could have done anything right then.

Her hand millimetres from his face, she followed the contours of his face down to his jaw, where she tapped his chin once with the tip of her finger.

Cas didn’t know what to do, let alone what he was supposed to do, so he did nothing.

Meg seemed disappointed, but she was quick to hide her feelings again.

“So, how was your day?” she asked in a sweet girly voice, blinking her eyes at Cas.

Cas was just confused. He had no idea what Meg was doing, she never behaved that way. He opened his mouth a couple of times but closed it again after a few seconds, because there was just nothing he could have said.

How his day had been? He didn’t even have an idea where he was right now!

“Are you being shy today again?” Meg asked in a mocking voice, tilting her head as he did sometimes. He really needed to stop that, it just looked childish.

Again he opened his mouth to answer her but couldn’t think of a single thing to say. What was wrong with him?

But then an opening door saved him from any further embarrassment.

Cas turned around to see who his savoir was, and stared at Dean’s disappointed face.

“Cas” he said and Cas thought that he looked just like a lost puppy. Normally that was Sam’s look, but Dean could wear it perfectly too. “I’m not gonna disturb you two, I’m gonna go and leave you two to yourself.”

“You are not disturbing anything, Dean” Cas said and as he saw Dean’s eyes light up with what he thought was hope he could have hugged him right then and there. But he held himself back. Dean didn’t like hugs.

Dean’s eyes went from Cas to Meg and back. Cas had forgotten all about Meg, but as Dean mentioned her his eyes went back to her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dean’s desolate look towards him and Meg and a similar look of sorrow on Meg’s face.

What was wrong with both of them today?

But then Meg washed her expression of sadness off of her face and plastered a grin on it, which even Cas could see straight through. She didn’t seem to care, instead she came a step closer to him again and raised her arms towards his face. She came even closer, face angled towards him, her eyes closing slowly, just as if….

“Why do you want to kiss me?” asked Cas, before he could think better than to say that thought out aloud.

Meg reeled back, trying with all her means to keep a neutral face. But Cas could see her hurt underneath it and he felt bad for her. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her, but he hadn’t wanted to kiss her either.

Meg was hurt, and he didn’t know why. Dean was disappointed too, and he didn’t know why either.

Although, as he looked at Dean now, he saw an expression on his face that he could only describe as smug. But as Dean noticed him staring, that expression vanished again and Cas wasn’t sure if he hadn’t just imagined the whole thing.

“Why don’t you love me anymore?” came Meg’s voice from behind him.

Cas hadn’t even realised that he had turned himself around to face Dean and turned his back on Meg.

He faced her again and furrowed his brow.

“I do not know what you are talking about” he said. He didn’t want to make everything worse, but he really had no idea what was going on. What was Meg talking about, him loving her? And why had she wanted to kiss him?

“You two were together” Dean said finally to break the silence that had formed. “Of course you love her, Cas. That’s what you told me a few days ago, don’t you remember?”

And suddenly, everything made sense to Cas.

He had seen himself the last time the darkness had vanished, and there was only one possible explanation for that happening: it had been another universe. And if he had been in another universe, then he had probably been travelling through different universes from the beginning. Meaning that even now he was in another universe. In another universe in which he apparently loved Meg.

“Cas?” Dean asked and Cas realised that he hadn’t answered Dean’s question.

He knew now what the truth was, but he wasn’t so sure if he should tell Dean. Would he even believe him? Probably. But there was nothing they could do about it, could they? And if someone was sending him from one universe to another, was that someone watching him? Would he prevent Cas from telling Dean that…

And then, everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I didn't have internet again... I hope you haven't given up on me yet I'll be able to post the next chapter sooner.  
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! See ya next time, if you want


	8. Curtain I

The next time the darkness vanished, Cas was prepared. He spun around, taking in his surroundings as fast as he could and assessing the danger. None seemed to be close.

Instead, he was alone. He was in an apartment, Dean and Sam’s apartment judging from the weapons spread on both beds. But it looked different than the places they usually stayed. It was tidy.

There were no papers spread on the table, the books were all where they belonged and there were no food residues to be seen.

It was not usual for Dean and Sam to keep their place so clean.

Cas ventured further into the apartment and into the kitchen. It was clean too… Something was really off here, but Cas couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Then he heard a noise. He froze on the spot and listened intently.

“Dean?” he shouted finally. “Dean, is that you?”

Footsteps approached and Cas had his blade in hand to defend himself if necessary.

“Cas” a voice answered but it wasn’t Dean’s voice.

Still, Cas recognised it.

“Sam?”

Cas lowered his blade again and stepped forward.

Sam came around the corner and stopped in his tracks.

“Cas, is that really you?” he asked.

Cas furrowed his brow. Why wouldn’t it be him?

“Yes”, he simply answered.

Sam looked him once over, then took a tentative step towards Cas. As he saw that Cas was obviously no threat to him – and why would he be? It was Cas! – and it wasn’t a trap as far as he could judge from the distance, he took another step towards him and then hugged Cas.

“Good to see you, man” he said.

Cas didn’t answer, he wouldn’t have known what to say either way.

“How’ve you been?” Sam asked and took a step back, holding Cas at arm’s length and looking him up and down. “Where’ve you been?” he added.

Cas didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t even sure himself where he had been, or where he was at the moment, yet alone how he’d come here. Or was he back in his own universe again? How could he tell?

But something seemed off, not only with the apartment and his surroundings but also with Sam. He was different than Cas remembered him.

Sam didn’t seem to mind that Cas wasn’t answering his question. Instead, he stepped around him and headed to the kitchen, pulling out two beers and offering one to Cas.

Cas shook his head, wondering even more. The brothers knew that he didn’t drink any alcohol, at least not most of the time, and Sam seemed genuinely surprised that Cas refused the bottle.

Still, he shrugged and put it back in the fridge.

Cas caught a glimpse at the insides of the fridge and it was full of food. Granted, that wasn’t something unusual for a fridge in a normal household, but it was very unusual for a Winchester fridge. They never had food stocked at home. If they were hungry they ordered something or went out to eat somewhere else, but cook? The Winchesters and cooking? That was weird.

Sam got out of the kitchen again, went over to the living room and sat himself on the big couch. In front of a big TV screen. Really big. And modern, from what Cas could judge – which wasn’t much, but still.

In a rented apartment, there would never be such a TV screen.

And now that Cas thought about it, the apartment didn’t feel like it was rented at all. Looking around, Cas confirmed his impression. There were picture frames of Dean and Sam and other people he didn’t know, there were books and CD’s and DVD’s and vinyl’s and other small objects all over the place. The apartment was decorated personally, it was Sam and Dean’s apartment. And not only for a couple of weeks but for a longer time. Much longer.

Slowly he turned back to Sam, but he hadn’t noticed Cas’ discovery.

“So” Sam asked without turning to Cas, “what have you been up to?”

Cas walked over to Sam and stood opposite from the  couch so that he could look at Sam.

Ignoring his question he asked:

“Since when do you own an apartment?”

Sam stared at him for a few seconds, unmoving and with wide eyes. Then, suddenly and without warning, he  burst out laughing.

Cas stared at him. Why was everyone doing that in the last few hours? Everyone kept laughing and he never understood why.

Sighing he lowered himself on the couch beside Sam, prepared to wait until Sam stopped laughing.

He didn’t have to wait long, because after only a few moments Sam noticed that Cas wasn’t laughing with him and he stopped, frowning at Cas.

“You serious?” he asked. “ You don’t remember?”

Cas shook his head. He had no idea what Sam was talking about.

“Remember what?”

Sam laughed again, but this time without any real humour. Then he shook his head.

“You helped us move into this place like a year ago!” he stated. “How can you not remember?”

So Cas still wasn’t in his universe. He sighed and let himself fall deeper into the couch.

“Wrong universe again” he said. He was tired of this game and he just wanted to go home.

As the laughter he had expected from Sam didn’t come, he turned around to look at Sam. He laughed when Cas didn’t expect him to, and when he did expect him to he didn’t. Cas would never really understand humans.

Sam was staring at him, a thoughtful look in his eyes. Then he seemed to make a decision.

“Can we help you somehow?” he simply asked.

Cas furrowed his brow.

“Why do you believe me?” he asked.

“Are you telling the truth?” replied Sam.

“Yes.”

“Well then, there you go.” At Cas’ doubtful look Sam added: “And besides, you don’t look or act, for that matter, like _our_ Cas.”

Cas squinted his eyes at the emphasis on “our”, but then decided to ignore it.

“You are probably right” he finally conceded.

“So, what can we do to get you back to your own universe?” Sam repeated his question.

Cas shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know” he admitted. “Someone sent me here.”

“Don’t worry Cas, we’ll figure this out” Sam reassured him and patted his shoulder. “Let me just call Dean and we’ll get right to work.”

And with that Sam stood up and headed towards the bedroom.

Cas sat there, unmoving. He would get back to where he belonged. Back to Dean and Sam, the real Dean and Sam, at least real for him. This Dean and this Sam, even if they weren’t the ones who were real to him, would fix this. They could fix everything. If they could fix the apocalypse and stop the world from ending, then they could fix this too.

“Yeah, he’s here. Weird story, I know, but I believe him” Cas heard Sam’s voice as he was coming back into the living room. “See you in five then.”

Sam closed the phone again and turned his gaze to Cas again.

“We’ll fix this.”

“I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so sorry for the awfully long wait. I don't even have an excuse this time. I'll try to be faster. Still, I hope you liked the chapter :)  
> Only two more chapters to go, so stay tuned for more!


	9. Curtain II

Suddenly, Cas sat up straight again. He turned around on the sofa so that he was facing Sam, who sat down beside him.

“I know what’s wrong with you” he said matter of factly.

Sam blinked twice, then squinted his eyes.

“What?”

“Now I finally know what’s wrong with you” Cas repeated patiently.

Sam grinned and shook his head.

“What’s wrong with _me_?”

“Yes” Cas simply stated. Sam hadn’t usually been so slow. “You are older.”

And as he said it out loud, everything fell into place. Of course, this Sam was older than the Sam Cas knew. He had travelled in time as well as in between universes!

“I am older” repeated Sam doubtfully. “Older than a second ago?”

But Cas didn’t have any more time to explain what he meant, because the front door was flung open and footsteps approached the living room.

“Sam?” Dean’s voice echoed through the apartment. Then his voice became more gentle. “Cas?”

Cas stood up and walked a few steps to meet Dean in the doorway to the living room. As he took in the sight of Dean, Cas was completely sure: Dean was at least 15 years older than when he’d last seen him.

And still he was handsome.

Cas frowned. Where had that thought come from?

Dean misunderstood the frown and stopped where he was.

“You don’t like what you see?” he joked, even though the humour in his face couldn’t mask the hurt in his eyes. “Am I getting to old for you?”

“No. Yes! I mean, no!” Cas closed his eyes and took a breath. “No you are not too old and yes, I like what I see.”

As soon as he realised what he’d said, he clamped his hands over his mouth, wishing he could take those last words back.

But as he saw the smirk spreading on Dean’s face which made him look like _his_ Dean again, he would shout them to the world if he needed to.

Sam cleared his throat and both Dean and Cas jumped with surprise. Dean got his wits back first.

“Hey, bitch, don’t interrupt, we were having a moment here!”

“That’s my phrase!” Sam protested.

Cas blushed – when had he last blushed?! – and walked over towards the couch again, Dean following him on his heels.

“So we have to send your sorry ass back to your own universe, right?” Dean asked. Sam and Cas nodded. “Well, I’m kinda sorry ‘bout it.”

“Dean!” Sam exclaimed, but more mockingly than serious, although Cas was never sure when humans were joking and when not.

He still returned Dean’s smile and sat down besides Dean, who had flopped down onto the couch on Sam’s place, so that Sam sighed and had to go and sit in the armchair a few steps away.

Dean’s grin widened even more, and Cas couldn’t take his eyes away from him. Sam had to clear his throat again so that they could go back to the matters at hand.

“How do we get you back” Sam asked Cas. “Any ideas? Or plan? Or, you know, a ritual or something? Anything?”

Cas shook his head.

“I think Gabriel is sending me because he doesn’t want me to tell you that… Wait” said Cas, eyes widening with hope, “how old are you?”

Sam and Dean exchanged a look and Sam looked as if he was trying not to laugh again. Dean wasn’t so preoccupied with hiding his smirk.

“Why do you wanna know?” Dean asked and Cas couldn’t tell why but he made it sound all wrong.

Cas shook his head exasperated.

“Just… How old are you?”

Dean was about to answer, and Cas was sure that it wouldn’t have been his age but some other smirky comment, when Sam decided to spare him that.

“I’m 48, so you can do the maths.”

Dean hit him on the arm and pouted at him, but Sam ignored him altogether.

Cas nodded.

“Then you must still remember everything that happened when you were 39, right?”

Dean, leaving Sam’s punishment for another time, turned his attention back to Cas.

“Well, not everything but yeah, I guess. Why? Where are you on our timeline?”

“Tell me what happened with Gabriel.”

Sam laughed out loud once and Dean shook his head.

“That’s gonna take us more time than we’ve got” he said. “And besides, who knows what might happen if we tell you something that hasn’t happened yet!”

Cas nodded again and then tried to think back.

“The last thing I remember is coming into a too colourful apartment, with you and Sam and a too-big-to-even-eat-it-sandwich on a table, and Gabriel was standing beside me. I wanted to warn you, but he shut me up, snapped his fingers and then I was somewhere else.”

Suddenly, Sam began to laugh. He laughed and laughed and laughed and couldn’t hold himself anymore. At first, Cas thought that Sam somehow knew where he’d been sent and was laughing at him, but soon he put that idea aside because it made no sense. Sam couldn’t know. How should he?

Dean wasn’t laughing either. He shot a look to Cas and both of them shrugged their shoulders. They waited patiently until finally, Sam recovered from his laughing attack and breathed in and out fast to regain his breath.

“Seriously?” he panted. “This is too good.”

Dean let out his breath in a sigh.

“Can you please tell the rest of us what’s so funny?”

Sam, still a grin on his face, leaned back in his chair.

“Dean, don’t you remember that time?” But Dean only shook his head, so Sam continued. “It was the time we found out Gabriel is not the trickster but Gabriel the archangel…”

“That’s what I wanted to tell you!” Cas interrupted him.

“Exactly. And eventually we found out by ourselves. But before he sent us to all kinds of different TV shows, we met Dr. Sexy, we were in a Japanese TV show were…”

“I appeared” Cas interrupted again and Sam nodded, while Dean frowned sympathetically at Sam, remembering the agonized look on his brothers face after he’d gotten the answer wrong on that damn TV show.

“Exactly” Sam confirmed. “And then we were in a weird advertisement and then in a sitcom and then Cas appeared and then he sent Cas away… Ah, that’s where he sent you!”

Cas nodded.

“Yes, he did. What happened then?”

Sam frowned.

“Then… you just appeared again” he said.

Cas sighed. This wasn’t going to be any help.

“Did Gabriel say something?”

“Not really, we just talked and then…”

“It’s really amusing to watch you two talk about whatever it is you’re talking about, but don’t you think we better shouldn’t tell Cas anything about his future? Wasn’t there something with that disturbing the time line or something and breaking everything?”

Cas frowned at him, but then had to give in:

“Yes, I guess you shouldn’t tell me about my future. Not that anything you just said made any sense, Dean.”

Dean frowned at him, but then suddenly he had another thought.

“Sam, you remember what Cas told us afterwards?

Sam didn’t answer for a few moments, but then shook his head.

“No, I don’t remember…”

Dean looked from Sam to Cas and then back.

“I guess I can tell you what you’re going to say anyway in the future, right?” he asked.

Cas nodded gingerly and even though Dean didn’t seem completely convinced he continued with his explanation.

“Well, you said something about Eremiel having helped you back. We didn’t get it at the time but now it makes sense! You probably told us then how to bring you back.”

Cas nodded again.

“Yes, that would probably make sense. Eremiel could have been the one who brought me back.”

Sam clapped his hands together and stood up.

“Well, then let’s summon him, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoyed it :)  
> There is only one more chapter to go, see you there if you'd like!


	10. Curtain III

It wasn't as easy as they had initially thought to get all the ingredients for the spell together, and with every minute that passed Cas became more and more restless. What if Gabriel decided to send him to yet another universe before they could finish the spell? What if Gabriel was watching him and disapproved of what he was doing? What if…?

But then Cas had a thought. He had apparently told the Dean and Sam of his future and their past how to get him back, so it had to have happened in this universe with this Dean and Sam. He was safe for the moment.

Suddenly, Dean was standing beside him, his hand on his shoulder. It was reassuring.

"Don't worry, it'll work" he said as if he'd read Cas' thoughts.

"The spell, yes, but what then? Do you even know who that Eremiel guy is?" Sam asked. "Are you sure he's gonna be able to help you get back?"

Dean frowned at him.

"Why else would Cas have given us his name?"

Exasperated Sam turned towards his brother.

"Do you even remember exactly what he told us? Because what I remember is him muttering something that sounded like Eremiel, and nothing else."

Dean shot him a look, but wasn't able to completely deny that Sam could be right.

They both looked back at Cas, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know what I will say to you in the future, Dean."

"But do you know this Eremiel? Can we trust him?"

"I know all of my brothers, Dean. But no, I haven't met Eremiel in particular."

Sam turned back to Dean with a what-did-I-tell-you look on his face.

"Do you have a better idea?" Dean answered Sam's unvoiced comment.

"Let's summon Eremiel then" Sam gave in. "But don't come crying to me if this doesn't work out as you'd thought."

"Angels do not cry" Cas stated, but the brothers both ignored him.

"Then let's do this."

Cas made one last flight to get the last ingredient, the feather of a blackbird, and the spell was ready. Sam shot one last doubtful look from Dean to Cas, but as none of them protested out loud he let go of the burning match he'd been holding and the flame dropped down to the summoning circle.

And nothing happened.

"Did we do something wrong?"

"I don't think so..." Sam replied.

They looked towards Cas, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"I..."

But before Cas could say anything more, everything went black.

OoOoOoOo

With a sigh, Cas opened his eyes again.

"Not again... I knew I should not have trustd Eremiel..." he muttered under his breath.

"What?" said a voice behind him.

"Dean? Sam?"

Cas spun around, only to see Dean and Sam standing a few steps behind him.

"Yeah, that's us" Sam said.

Cas frowned and wondered how he could find out if this was his Sam and Dean standing there.

"When are we?" he asked tentatively. "Where are we?"

"Gabriel sent us here" Dean said with a sigh, ignoring the first question. "That stupid bastard wouldn't let us go."

"He's an archangel!" Cas exclaimed, remembering what he'd wanted to tell Dean and Sam in the first place and suddenly convinced that this was where he'd started out from.

"We know" Sam answered. "We caught him. I think he won't be bothering us again for some time."

Cas let out a sigh. He was back and everything was under control.

He looked at Dean, his Dean, and grinned.

"I like how you look" he blunted out, not able to stop the words before they left his mouth.

Dean blushed and Cas frowned. Why was Dean blushing?

"Eh..." Dean mumbled and fidgeted with his hands. His eyes shot to Sam and he blushed even deeper.

Cas looked for the first time in Sam's direction. He seemed different too, but not as different as Dean. His Dean.

He frowned. What was it that he had with pronouns all of a sudden?

Suddenly, Sam broke out laughing.

Dean and Cas both stared at him, and Sam tried to supress his laughter.

"You're both just adorable" he stated and started giggling again.

Dean rolled his eyes, but smiled fondly from Sam to Cas. It wasn't the smile that Cas had grown used to seeing on the older Dean's face, but it was a start. Maybe, with time, he could get Dean to really smile again.

OoOoOoOo

"Do you think it worked?" Dean asked Sam.

"He'll be fine" Sam reassured Dean. "Do you realise what happened afterwards?"

Dean blushed deep red. For a moment his mind lingered in the past, his eyes lit up by the thoughts of a happy past.

"Where do you think Cas is now?" Sam asked him.

And with that Dean's expression lost its happiness again.

"Do you think he'll ever find a way to come back?"

Sam smiled.

"He will always find his way back to you."

Suddenly, Dean and Sam heard a noise. They spun around, their hands going to where their weapons had always been. Now there was nothing there anymore.

"Cas?" Dean asked as soon as he saw who had appeared behind them.

"Thank you, Eremiel" Cas told the figure standing beside him, and a second later he was alone again.

"Cas?" Dean repeated.

This time Cas' attention turned to Dean.

"Yes Dean, I am here."

Dean grinned.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is, finally. So sorry for the long wait, but I had real problems with this chapter. I'm still not quite happy with it, but I couldn't figure out why so I thought you'd be glad to have some kind of ending even if it's not what I had initially in mind. Maybe someday I will be able to get back to this and take it where I wanted it to go, but don't hold me on that promise.
> 
> Thank you to all of you for reading, reviewing and coming with me on this ride, I hope you enjoyed it! Please tell me what you thought, it would mean the world to me.
> 
> See ya 'round!


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